Electronica:
Know from Toti Dalmacion the origin and features of electronic music.

from: CHALK
Magazine
December 2000
Playtime section, pp. 64-65

While the rest of the country just discovered raves, DJs, house, techno,
downtempo, breakbeat, d&b, etc. recently, some people have already
taken two steps forward by making the tracks themselves. Some are DJ's
and some are musicians. For the DJ's, it's the next step to just playing
other people's records and moving away from the DJ hype. For somje of
the musicians, this is an outlet for their creativity and art as opposed
to their regular gigs as programmers, arrangers, etc. Then there are those
who have been making music electronic-wise, from the day they acquired
their first synth or drum machine. For the most part, the common goal
is for the locals to get exposed to electronic music, both dance and experimental,
and to have their music heard in the Western world, to show that we Filipinos
have something to offer as well. Here are some examples of this new breed
of music artists.

CLONE
Clone is an electronic collective currently composed of three musicians:
Lionel Valdellon (keyboards, programming, vocals), Sheerin Castillo (lead
vocals) and Karlo Samson (samplers, programming). The group has been sporadically
gigging since its inception in January 1999, spreading its grooves to
a more sophisticated audience. They cheekily describe their sound as "adult
contemporary electronica"-- not exactly for the dance floor, and
not just for chilling out, but something eclectic in between. Imagine
the melodic nuances of Morcheeba, Hooverphonic, Bjork, Moloko, and latter-day
EBTG, laced with classical themes of life, love and longing and sprinkled
liberally with a subtle, biting humor. That's the music of Clone.

RUBBER INC.
The tandem of Noel de Brackinghe and Malek Lopez. This duo are probably
the most popular among the stable of local electronic acts, although they
haven't been around that long. Rubber Inc. was formed in late '98, and
has since been gigging quite extensively and making music consistently.
Originally their sound was more on the breakbeat/drum&bass tip, but
lately, they've been dabbling with some four on the floor, and a lot of
electro. Their influences are broad and diverse, as each individual brings
in his own, so it ranges from Miles Davis to Photek to Squarepusher to
Oram. As you can see, it's not just your usual Prodigy/Chemical Brothers
referencepoints although they've been referred to as the local version
of the latter for lack of a better description. One thing'sfor sure, they're
very tal;ented and dedicated to honing and perfecting their craft, fromlive
performances to recordings. If you haven't seen them live,I suggest you
do, but don't expect onstage gimmicks or rock-star posturing. These guys
just perform their music that's both butt-shaking and mind-blowing...
non-stop.

You can catch
Rubber Inc. in various gigs all over town and at Kemistry, or listen to
their tracks on PinoyCentral.com.

HOMINID
A simple guy by the name of Elmer San Juan who works as an engineer for
an American electronic firm somewhere in the city and releases material
on his own label Self Records. His sound is best described as "experimental
sounds of different moods and themes made with electronic noises geared
towards the more aggressive stuff." Quite understandable as he was
into hardcore, thrash metal, and industrial for some time. Try to combine
Dead Kenndys, Slayer, Entombed, Layback and Alec Empire... abrasive and
sonic.

Check out
his release "Inhabitation." You may avail of his CD by emailing
or visiting http://www.mp3.com/hominid

ASCOLTO
Brian Cua,esteemed programmer/arranger/producaer, and yours truly. This
is something that I should have done a long time ago, but never had the
time to. Since the deejaying craft has gone to the dogs lately, I decided
to focus on my original tracks and started to make some more. I collaborated
with Brian (who was also a part of the RiverMaya Remix project that I
was involved with a couple of years ago) for his expertise in the technical
and programming aspect. I compose the tracks and the riffs, and Brian
adds to them and polishes the tracks. Our sound could be best described
as "deep house"-- head nodding with jkazz and soul in it. Although
we'vedone a downtempo track.the direction's really more on the deep-house
end. Our influences vary individually, but as Ascolto, it's inspired by
Charles Webster, Kevin Yost, At Jazz, Matthew Herbert, Paul Flynn, The
Rurals, and other similar-sounding producers. Hopefully we get to release
an album soon, and maybe get licensed by a respectable label abroad like
Guidance or Compost.

Check out
some of our tracks on the various MP3 sites on the Net.

SICK MAN
OF ASIA
Christian Cabuay (sampling, programming, vocals) and Jessica Duque (vocals,
keyboard). Christian has been making muisic via computers for 5 years
now without any formal music training. He got into a little deejaying,
but when he got back to the Philippines, he formed an eclectic hip hop
group known as Xtrapoetic. From there he moved on to Calamity Jane, an
electronic folk outfit. For her part, Jessica is a classically-trained
pianist. Together, they combine to produce music that is hip-hop based
with elements of ambient, dub, reggae, jazz and blues. Their influences
range from BillLaswell to Wu-Tang Clan, to Mad Professor. You can check
out their tracks on PinoyCentral.com and MP3.com.

E-TRINITY
The electronic artist known as e:trinity (aka 28-year-old LA-based musician/producer
Elson Trinidad), combines electropnic dance music with traditional and
indigenous styles from Asia. The music of e:trinity carefully superimposes
the music of the past on the sounds of the present to create the sound
of the future. "It's an ethnotronic sound," e:trinity says.
Even the more conventional-sounding tracks are veiled with references
to this culture. Listen carefully and you'll hear sounds sampledfrom familiar
(and obscure) Philippine pop, folk, and indigenous recordings. Hiss drum&bass
and 2-step experimentations are such a treat. e:trinity's music has gained
airplay on radio stations in LA, New York, the San Francisco Bay Area,
Houston, and even Portugal. His muisic has also been featured in the soundtrack
to the indie film "Much Adobo About Nothing", and the PBS documentary
"Kababayan: Filipino-AMericans in New York." e:trinity also
performs around Los Angeles as a live elctronic act, usually backed by
MC Reg-I and other guest musicians. The act has also performed in San
Francisco and plans are underway for performances in Manila and Hong Kong
in 2001.

e:trinity's
tunes can be heard and downloaded on his MP3.com website at www.mp3.com/etrinity
and on his own label Pcific City, distributed independently. For more
information on e:trinity, please contact etrinity@etrinity.org.

As you can see,most of them have their tracks out on Mp3 sites, but watch
out for a future compilation coming out on Definition Records.

Chalkbyte:
All the electronic music links at:
www.arachnaut.org/music/links.html